During the last decade, an increasing interest has been developed in the art of perfumery for materials possessing a woody-type odour. One of the consequences of such an increase of interest consisted to promote a drastic shortage of naturally occurring materials traditionally used in the art for the reconstitution of woody-type olfactive notes.
Patchouli oil is an example of this type of material. This essential oil is well known in the art for its typical woody and balsamic fragrance, at the same time spicy, sweet and herbaceous. The said essential oil is moreover noteworthy for its particularly tenacious and powerful odour, and consequently is very broadly used in perfumery, particularly in fine perfumery, for the preparation of various compositions such as those having an oriental, woody, "chypre" or "fougere" character for example.
It has been surprisingly found that it is now possible to faithfully reproduce certain typical nuances of the odoriferous character of natural patchouli oil, by using spirane derivatives of formula (II).
2,6,10,10-Tetramethyl-1-oxa-spiro[4.5] decan-6-ol for example, when used in a perfume or in a perfumed product, imparts thereto an elegant and harmonious woody and balsamic olfactive note similar to that obtained by the use of patchouli oil itself.
It is known in the art that the fragrance of a given essential oil results from the combination of the different odours of each individual constituent of the said oil and can vary depending on the origin or on the purity of the said natural essential oil. It is therefore very rare to find that a single compound can by itself totally reproduce the full character of an essential oil.
In certain cases however, patchouli oil can be advantageously replaced by the spiranic compounds (II) whenever it is desired to impart to a perfume or a perfumed product the woody and balsamic note typical of the said essential oil.